4 Common Mistakes Managers Make

Managers are going through a very stressful period right now. They have to do more with less, have constant pressure from executives to meet goals, and have to deal with all kinds of issues with their employees. They have to bridge the communication gap between younger and older generations, while learning how to best collaborate and manage through change. Managers have to constantly bring out the best in people they work with, while hiring and training new employees. Not all managers are leaders, and some get their positions just by putting in years of work and being loyal to their company. In a study by CareerBuilder, 58 percent of managers received no formal training before starting their job, which results in some major mistakes. Here are the top five that are more common:

Lack of communication

In a study by Accountemps, 41 percent of CFO’s say that lack of communication between staff and management is the number one most common management mistake. As a manager, you have to always be available for your team to make sure that they know what they have to do and to answer their questions. Not only do you have to keep in close contact with your team, but you have to make sure that the people who you report to are in the know. Poor communication creates uncertainty, which leads to stress and conflict. For instance, if your employees aren’t updated on a project, they might continue to work on it when it might not be a priority anymore. This is a waste of resources and frustrates the entire team.

Doing all the work

Some managers take on all of the work and aren’t good at assigning it to employees. They also feel that the work will only be of high quality or done right if they do it. This is a major problem because a manager’s time is limited and if they don’t share work, then their employees will be bored and unhappy. If you keep doing your staff’s work, then down the road you will be working very hard and your team will not be smarter or more productive.

Not trusting others

When managers don’t trust employees to do their work or to work remotely, they end up micromanaging. They are constantly checking up on the people that work for them, watching and tracking them, and spend less time getting their own work done. The more that managers trust their employees, the more that the employees will want to work for them. Managers should focus on getting results rather than forcing employees to work at the office or work nine to five. They are graded on results and should concentrate on getting them.

Failing to give feedback

Employees, especially younger ones, are constantly looking for feedback so they can improve. When you don’t provide immediate feedback , they are unable to improve performance. For example, if one of your employees has bad phone manners or countless grammatical mistakes when writing emails, you need to tell them immediately. They aren’t always aware of the issue and will therefore keep making the same mistakes if you don’t say anything.

I really enjoyed and agree with this subject. At times like this managers sometimes do put all the burdun on themselves. They can be stuborn maybe because of doing the work right and efficient for the company. Its about time for us to step up to the plate and help out our dying breed of experienced managers so we can learn from their old habits #OCPersonalBranding